Legendary rap pioneer Roxanne Shante is back, and she’s working with a Tony Award-winning actress on a new cause to help out struggling artists. The famed Queensbridge emcee and Juice Crew affiliate has teamed up with actor Lin-Manuel Miranda for a new program that will allow uninsured artists to exchange works of art for medical services.
According to a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, Shante and Miranda have joined forces to launch the “Lincoln Art Exchange” program at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, New York. The program will give uninsured freelance artists the opportunity to pay for medical services – including doctor’s visits, laboratory tests, hospitalization, emergency care, dental care and prescriptions – by painting murals at the hospital or giving performances at hospital events.
In other news, critically acclaimed indie Hip Hop label Stones Throw is changing the Internet music industry with a new subscription-based service for fans.
According to a recent article by the Los Angeles Times, the Cali imprint and home to Mayer Hawthorne and Homeboy Sandman is now offering a $10 a month subscription service that will give listeners access to the label’s latest releases. Using a model developed for Ghostly International’s Drip.FM service, fans will be sent MP3 files of the label’s line-up each month.
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The first titles from Stones Throw’s roster will feature Homeboy Sandman’s new EPSubject: Matter, the instrumentals to M.E.D.’s recent LPClassic and a compilation of proto-synth music called The Minimal Wave Tapes Vol. 2. The service will also give subscribers access to a host of other premium goodies.
Finally, lead singer of the rock group Soundgarden Chris Cornell had reportedly called out Kanye West at Australia’s Big Day Out music festival after the rapper held his performance back by 45 minutes due to sound problems. Now, the singer has taken to Twitter to clarify his comments.
According to MTV, Cornell said during performance that, “[It] sounds like there’s children playing music there, retarded children, retarded as in ‘held back,'” which initial reports claim was directed at West, whose lateness cut into Soundgarden’s set time.
Now, however, Cornell said on Twitter that he was not in fact referring to Yeezy, but rather the lackluster quality of the concert’s production. The Tweet in question can be seen below.
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